Monday, July 20, 2015

Bernice “Lady Long Rider” Ende makes stop in Langdon on ocean-to-ocean 8,000-mile ride across the country

It was like a scene from an old western, a lone rider on horseback came into town on a hot, sunny afternoon.

Posted on 7/18/15
By Melissa Anderson

The townsfolk stopped and stared as the woman rode by, wondering who she was and where she had come from.

According to the rider, Bernice Ende, this is how things usually go until someone gets the courage, or a fellow horse person happens by and introduces themselves to her.

“You ride in and nobody comes out. I feel like Clint Eastwood in one of his movies, riding into town with a low gaze and covered in dirt,” Ende said.

Riding into Langdon was one of the exceptions to this occurrence. Not only was Ende approached almost immediately upon her arrival, but was offered a place for her and her horses to spend a few a days and rest up.

“I was greeted with handshakes and smiles,” Ende stated.

Ende refers to herself as “Lady Long Rider” and for good reason. The Minnesota native has been doing long distance riding for over a decade, with her first ride in 2005 from her residence in Trego, Montana down to Edgewood, New Mexico.

“By the time I finished that first ride, I was so profoundly changed, I kept saying ‘How am I going to go back?’” Ende said.

Ende never really did go back to what many consider a “normal life,” and from that point on has done a long ride every year or two with most of her riding being in the western part of the country and the lower half of Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada. From that first ride to now, Ende has covered over 20,000 miles on horseback...